Confused Love
by Shadowninja7453
Summary: Loyalty towards Arpeggio has been Neyla's life for years, but her feelings for a certain thieving raccoon make her start questioning her life and whether it's best for her. SlyxNeyla, hints of SlyxCarmelita. Takes place during Sly 2 and onwards.
1. After the Dance

**I don't know WHY I decided to write this. A Neyla x Sly ship is a ship that sunk before it even reached the dock, but I've recently been replaying Sly 2 and I have to admit that the two were very cute together in the Rajan chapters. So, here it is. It should also be noted that I will only be retelling AT MOST, two scenes from Sly 2 so, if you don't understand some of the plot points that I reference but weren't in this, go play Sly 2.**

 **Set during Sly 2, Episode 2**

Chapter 1

Neyla p.o.v

Neyla walked across the dance floor in Rajan's palace, leaving Carmelita Fox and, an undercover, Sly Cooper talking to arrange a dance. Neyla sat down at the bar and ordered a glass of wine as she mulled over recent events.

Ever since she helped Sly recover the Clockwerk tail feathers in Paris, she couldn't get him out of her head. His charming smile, impressive body and entertaining attitude. Neyla's wine was placed in front of her and she quickly downed it. _What is wrong with me?_ She thought, _He's a thief, and attracted to Old Ironsides! It'll never happen!_ She ordered up another round when she saw Carmelita walking over to her, more than likely about to rub the fact that she could never be with Sly in her face.

'Your friend is very cute, Constable,' Carmelita casually stated, sitting down next to the tiger, 'are you two together?' Neyla almost dropped her glass at that statement.

'No,' she hissed, even though she knew that the Inspector was just asking if Sly was single, 'and I'm pretty sure he doesn't have anyone like that.'

'Huh,' Carmelita looked across the room and watched Sly leave before stopping Neyla from downing her second glass of wine, 'I'm sure it's good wine, Neyla, but we can't get drunk, we have a job to do.'

'Yeah, whatever.' Neyla almost slammed her glass on the bar as she got up and stalked off. She didn't care where she was going, so long as it was away from Carmelita. She stormed up the stairs, wanting to get some air, when she almost knocked over Klaww Gang leader, Arpeggio, who yelped in surprise.

'Gracious!' Arpeggio exclaimed, flapping his small wings to regain balance. After recovering, he saw who had collided with him, and scowled at her, 'my dear Neyla, was that necessary?'

'Leave me alone Arpeggio.' She growled, attempting to get past.

'Have you done as I asked?'

'Yes,' she replied, 'the Cooper Gang will have the wings by the end of the night.'

'Good, those magnificent devices do not deserve to be strung up as decorations.'

'Whatever, now get out of my way.' Neyla lowered her arm and reached for her whip, which she had hidden in her dress as a precaution, ready to strike him.

'Now, now, Neyla, let's not get ahead of ourselves.' Before Neyla could respond, she heard the sound of insect-like feet moving towards her, and turned around to see the Contessa grab her. 'She is not acting like herself dear Contessa, do something about it.' The Contessa's eyes began to glow and Neyla felt herself begin to slip. She tried screaming for help, but her voice didn't work; tried to break free, but the spider held her in her vice-like grip, she couldn't even look away from the hypnotic eyes as she slipped into an involuntary sleep, knowing that she was, once again, under Arpeggio's control.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

As soon as he was clear of the palace, Sly broke into a sprint and darted across the rooftops. Skillfully navigating the urban environment, slipping past guards and changing out of his tux as he did it, Sly was back at the hideout within minutes. Sly entered the main room, hung up his tuxedo and sat down at the table.

'Good job, Sly,' Bentley commented, 'I'm just making some final calculations for the next phase of our job here. I'll be a few minutes.' Bentley started crunching numbers on his laptop as Sly found himself looking towards the palace, thinking about his encounter with the policewomen. Carmelita was just as lovely as ever, and her dress had really complimented her figure. As per usual, he found himself looking forward to their dance, but his mind kept going back to the behaviour of the vixen's white tiger partner. Neyla was acting, different, during their dance. She hadn't shown any sign of affection back at the nightclub, but every time they made eye contact during their dance, Neyla blushed. It was cute, Sly was in love with a cop, and her partner had a crush on him.

Normally, Sly would've laughed it off. He had always been in love with Carmelita. Hell, the last time he'd had her all to himself, he'd kissed her, and that was in a volcano! But, during their dance, seeing Neyla blush as he held her, made him realize that he had some degree of feelings for her as well. It made no sense; he still loved Carmelita, yet he had a crush on Neyla, what the hell was that about?

'Damn it.' Sly muttered.

'What was that, Sly?' Bentley asked, having set up his projector.

'Uh, nothing Bentley.' Sly quickly replied. Sly put his feelings for the women aside as Bentley explained the next phase of the plan to the gang, but the feelings weren't going to go away anytime soon.

 **Please Rate and Review, I don't know how long this is gonna be yet, just FYI.**


	2. Trapped

**I'm going ahead with this story, whether it's popular or not, just telling you now.**

 **Set before and during Sly 2, Episode 4**

Chapter 2

Neyla p.o.v

Neyla stirred from, what felt like, a drug influenced sleep. This was the third time in the past month she had woken up like this. Only this time, she didn't wake up in the comforts of whatever room she was living in at the time, she had woken up in a cold and uncomfortable cell, the sounds of propeller blades just outside. After a minute of confused silence, she finally realized where she was: aboard Arpeggio's blimp.

The white tigress immediately broke into a panic, rapidly scanning her surroundings for a way out. When she couldn't find her whip, or even so much as a door, Neyla fell to the floor.

Let me out you pathetic runt!' she screamed. When she didn't receive a response, Neyla curled up into a ball and waited. Why had she been brought here? The last thing she remembered was a cave in the Indian jungle.

* * *

 _Flashback_

'We're on for that date in Bollywood,' Neyla stated to Sly. Without saying another word, Neyla dashed past the raccoon and slipped into the brush of the untamed jungle. After a few minutes of navigating the dense environment, Neyla found her cave hideout, where she had stashed most of her belongings and all the intel she had gathered for Arpeggio.

Hanging her whip up, Neyla took off her hijab, letting her black hair drape down her back, as she thought about her latest encounter with Sly Cooper. Sly had asked her out on a date to Bollywood, making her want to scream "yes," but to make herself seem hard-to-get, the tigress waited until she had done her job before accepting his offer.

Neyla was ecstatic about the idea of getting to know Sly on a personal level. She wondered what the thief was like in a more civilized environment. From what she'd seen at the ball, the raccoon was the perfect gentleman. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not, but the thief would no doubt make their trip to Bollywood amazing. Then she remembered Arpeggio. Sooner or later, the runt was going to show up and order her to do something she didn't want to do, and given the blackouts she tended to suffer, there was nothing she could do about it. _No,_ She thought, _not this time, I won't betray Sly like that!_ Neyla started cooking her dinner when she heard the all too familiar sound of Arpeggio's birdcage on wheels.

'My dear Neyla,' Arpeggio called from the cave entrance, 'how are you this fine evening?'

'How many times must you ruin my good mood Arpeggio?' Neyla asked, moving away from her dinner to stare the bird down.

'Oh, I'm sorry, my dear,' Arpeggio was using his almost sing-song voice, as if to lull the tigress into a false sense of security, 'I didn't mean to interrupt your private time.'

'What do you want?' Neyla asked, ready to strike at him.

'Calm yourself,' Neyla wasn't sure why, but Arpeggio's voice was surprisingly soothing, 'I merely wanted you to update me on our progress here.'

Neyla sighed, dropped out of her stance, and relaxed. 'Rajan's spice production has increased immeasurably,' she explained, 'more than enough to distribute it to everyone in Paris.'

'Excellent,' Arpeggio exclaimed, 'though the plan would've been much easier, had Dimitri not been captured by Interpol.' Arpeggio's voice turned serious as he scowled at her.

'What are you saying?' Neyla asked, worried about what Arpeggio knew.

'You wouldn't happen to know anything about Dimitri's nightclub being shut down, would you?'

'Why would I know anything about that?' Neyla raised her guard once again, ready to attack the bird.

'It just seems curious that the Cooper Gang was only able to defeat Dimitri, AFTER you were spotted near the nightclub.'

Neyla knew where this was going and, without another word, charged Arpeggio.

Arpeggio didn't flinch, in fact he barely moved; only lifting his wing to flick a switch in his birdcage, releasing a quiet, soothing melody.

Neyla stopped, confused, until she realized what was happening. She charged again, only for Arpeggio to flick another switch that triggered hypnotic lights on the front of his birdcage.

Neyla was defenseless; the combination of the soothing music and the hypnotic lights rendered her immobile, though she used all her strength to try to fight it. She heard Arpeggio taunting her, as if wanting to see the tigress fight back. 'It's not as effective as the real deal, but it lasts longer than the Contessa's hypnosis.' Neyla felt her grip on reality slipping, she would've screamed for help had her voice not decided to stop working. The colours just kept repeating.

 _Red, yellow, green, red, yellow, green_

Neyla was terrified, if the hypnosis lasted longer, how long would it she be out?

 _Red, yellow, green, red, yellow, green_

What would Arpeggio make her do while she was under her control?

 _Red, Yellow, Green, Red, Yellow, Green_

What would happen to Sly?

 _RED, YELLOW, GREEN, RED, YELLOW, GREEN_

Neyla couldn't take it anymore, the colours overwhelmed her and everything went black.

* * *

 _End Flashback_

'I was getting too close to Sly,' Neyla whispered, having remembered what had happened, 'that's why they've brought me here.'

'Well, that and helping the Cooper Gang defeat Dimitri,' A voice added from out of nowhere. Neyla jumped up, looking for the annoying little runt who had trapped her here.

'If you're going to keep me here you runt,' she spat, not caring if she insulted the bird or not, 'you might as well just kill me.'

'Kill you?' Arpeggio laughed, 'Why would I kill you? You're my secret weapon. Why else would I have you betray Rajan and the Cooper Gang the way you did?' Neyla's stomach twisted into a knot, as her actions while under Arpeggio's control were finally revealed to her. Her heart must've stopped for a few seconds as she mulled over what she had just heard: Arpeggio had made her betray the man she cared for, a man who definitely deserve such betrayal. The tigress's dread was suddenly replaced with anger, prompting her to lash out at her mentor.

'This is a new level of low you pathetic runt!' Neyla yelled, 'making me betray one of the only people on this Earth that I care for? You're disgusting!' Arpeggio laughed, making Neyla realize what she had just done.

'I had a feeling you cared for Cooper,' Arpeggio chuckled, 'good, I'll be sure to mention that to the Contessa, before she starts processing him.'

Neyla's eyes widened. 'You made me give Sly to the Contessa?' she asked, becoming more and more distraught with each passing second.

'Oh yes,' he laughed, 'and his hippo friend, though I suspect neither will last long inside her facility.' Neyla dropped to her knees; on the verge of crying. 'You should be glad you are still alive, my dear. I spared you, so you will obey. Now, await new instructions, there is much to be done,' and with that, the speakers disabled, leaving Neyla to silently cry.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

'Get inside.' The guard spat, throwing Sly into a small, dark, room. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving the raccoon alone in the dark. Sly had been going in and out of consciousness, so he had no idea where he was. All he knew was that he was in a tiny, pitch black room with hardly any space to move. _Thank god I'm not claustrophobic_ Sly thought, gripping his cane, the only thing he'd been allowed to keep.

'How did I get here anyway?' Sly muttered to himself, trying to piece together what had happened before he was arrested, and while the events the blurry, one name kept coming to mind: Neyla. Sly growled, suddenly remembering what had happened after Rajan had been beaten.

* * *

 _Flashback_

Soaked, in pain and stuck in a pit. That was the first thing Sly could remember after following Neyla to Rajan. The tigress was being surprisingly open during their mission to recover the first half of the Clockwerk Heart, but now she was distant, almost completely different. She'd left him to be hit by Rajan's lightning and yet she seemed really open to going on a date with him. _What was that about?_ He thought, starting to pick himself up. Before he was even on his knees, Sly felt the large hands of Murray lift him to his feet.

'Sly!' The hippo exclaimed, pulling him into a hug, 'You're okay!'

'Yeah, I'm fine,' the raccoon replied, trying to escape Murray's vice-like grip, 'you can let go now.'

'Yes, you can,' Sly looked over Murray's shoulder to see Neyla jumping into the pit.

'Neyla!' he exclaimed, still struggling to break free. the raccoon slipped out of Murray's hug to run over to her, only to stop when he registered the guards flanking her, marching towards him, 'uh… what's going on?'

'You're under arrest, Sly,' Neyla explained, an uninterested look in her eye 'sorry.'

'What?' he demanded. The guards approached him, their weapons drawn, prompting Murray to jump in front of him, ready to fight back.

'Sorry Neyla,' Murray spat, raising his fists 'but we aren't going down without a fight.'

'Yes we are, Murray,' Sly interjected, surprising his friend.

'What are you talkin' about Sly?' Murray asked, not lowering his guard.

'Murray, I can barely stand,' the raccoon explained, hooking his cane onto his back, 'and there is _**no way**_ you can't take that many guards, you're exhausted.'

'But-' Murray began, prompting Sly to walk up to him.

'Bentley will get us out in no time,' he whispered in the hippo's ear. Murray clearly didn't like it, but he dropped out of his fighting stance, allowing the guards to clamp him in irons. As they were walked out of the temple, Sly noticed that Carmelita walking along, also clamped in irons. _Must be because of what happened at the ball,_ Sly thought, sidling up to Carmelita. 'Carmelita,' he began.

'Don't speak to me ringtail,' Carmelita spat, 'this is all your fault.' Sly flinched at Carmelita's cruelty, but quickly remembered how justified it was before stepping away from her.

As the three were marched towards the police convoy, Sly made eye contact with Neyla, noticing something peculiar. Her eyes didn't have their usual look, they were cold, unforgiving… cruel.

Just as the three were about to be thrown into the prison truck, Sly saw the all too familiar glint of binoculars in the nearby brush. _We're counting on you, he_ mouthed. Sly knew that Bentley could lip read, so he no doubt got the message that the message had been received.

Sly was shoved into the convoy and, for a split second, he could've sworn he saw something strange in Neyla's eyes as the doors shut behind him. It was fear.

 _End Flashback_

* * *

Sly thought over the events at the temple. In particular, Neyla's attitude. The tigress was almost a completely different person when she had the three carted off to prison, and Sly could only think of one word to describe what he had seen in her eyes: evil.

If it weren't for that split second of fear in her eyes, Sly would've said that she was an evil bitch that he was going to have a nice long chat with, as soon as Bentley got him out of this hole. **IF** Bentley got him out of this hole.

Sly didn't want to say it to Murray, but he wasn't sure Bentley was capable of freeing them. 'Who am I kidding?' Sly muttered, 'of course he'll get us outta here! Bentley's never let us down before, and he's not gonna start now.'

As Sly sat in silence, he found himself thinking about Carmelita. How was he going to deal with getting her out of prison? Even if she did get out, the vixen would be on the run from Interpol. But then, that's probably better than being locked in prison, if this Contessa's reputation was anything to go by. That was the only thing he knew about this place, the Contessa and her reputation. 'Fat lot of good that'll do if I don't get out of here.' Sly muttered.

Days passed, and Sly's hope was drained a little more each day. He was fed just enough to keep him alive and was never taken out of the hole.

A week had passed before anything remotely interesting had happened, and by that point, Sly had been having conversations with his cane.

'Of course I believe in him,' Sly stated, 'Bentley's probably here right now!' He sat in silence for a few seconds. 'Don't say things like that, Cane,' he responded, shocked, 'Bentley's a capable thief!' This conversation continued for a few minutes until Sly heard an explosion coming from outside. The conversation ceased as Sly listened eagerly, hoping for a chance to escape. The gunfire and explosions stopped and Sly sank back in sadness.

Suddenly, a massive smash and the sound of shattering debris came from outside. Mere seconds later, the door opened, giving Sly the opportunity to get out of the eternal darkness he'd been trapped in. Sly was nearly blinded by the amount of light he encountered upon exit, but once his eyes adjusted, he examined his surroundings.

He was standing in the usual prison grounds in what looked like early evening light, there were guards marching around outside a tall barbwire topped fence and spotlights dotted the complex. The thing that Sly didn't expect, was a decently sized train lodged in the wall of his cell. _Well done, Bentley._ Sly thought. As if on cue, Sly received a call on his binocucom. Activating it, Sly was happy to see his turtle friend.

'Sly, come in,' the turtle called in a hushed voice.

'Bentley,' Sly replied, happy didn't even begin to describe how the raccoon felt right now, 'how I've missed that brilliant voice of yours.'

 **Before you ask, a hijab is a veil that Muslim women wear; it's that red and gold thing Neyla always wears. This is my longest chapter I've written, so Rate and Review! Don't know when the next chapter will be up but hopefully it'll be soon.**


	3. To War

**Yes, the Sly and Neyla romance escalated really quickly in the last chapter, I hope to explain why in this one so, bare with me. Also, this is an AU; so if some events don't match up perfectly with the game or if some characters are OOC, please don't complain.**

 **Set Before Sly 2, Episode 5**

Chapter 3

Neyla p.o.v

Neyla had lost track of the days. She had been in Arpeggio's cell for days? Weeks? Months? She honestly had no idea, but she intended to get out, and when she did, she would get Sly out of the Contessa's prison herself if she had to. The more she said she would do that, the less she understood why. Why had she fallen for a man she barely knew? Why was she trying so hard to be with this master thief? When she'd first met Sly in Cairo, she couldn't deny the attraction. The man was attractive, and VERY good at keeping up with her at the nightclub. But it was their ballroom dance that really got her thinking about it. Neyla hid it well, but she was truly jealous of Sly using her to make Carmelita jealous of her. She knew that it was only to steal the wings, but that didn't make her any less jealous.

Neyla didn't have an answer as to why she was so keen on protecting the raccoon until she remembered her encounter with Sly at the temple.

The raccoon cared for the tigress, why else would he offer to take her to Bollywood? The tigress also couldn't lie about how well the two mixed, at the ball the two had a bunch of laughs together and Sly apologized when he had to use her to get Carmelita's attention.

 _But why?_ Neyla thought, _that still doesn't explain this attraction._ Neyla had been thinking about this for hours; she knew she liked the raccoon and was certain the raccoon liked her, but it still made no sense. 'I'm going in goddamn circles.' The tigress muttered. She heard the sound of mechanical feet approaching the room and, sure enough, a tray of food came from out of nowhere and stopped at her feet. The tigress put the thoughts behind her as she sat down to eat the surprisingly good meal Arpeggio was providing her with.

* * *

Arpeggio p.o.v

The parrot had been observing Neyla's behaviour for the weeks he had been keeping her prisoner. The tigress had been surprisingly calm, even after two weeks without social interaction, but the parrot knew that was about to change. He'd been keeping tabs on the remaining Klaww Gang members, along with the Cooper Gang, and he knew what had happened at the prison. He knew that Neyla had overlooked Bentley and as such, the Cooper Gang was reunited a week after they'd been imprisoned. He also knew about the Contessa's activities being exposed and Interpol getting ready for war with her.

 _The Contessa has been useful,_ Arpeggio thought, _but it is at an end, I need the Eyes back._ Arpeggio watched Neyla as she devoured her food. _Looks like it's time for my secret weapon to step back into the light._

The parrot pressed a button on his contraption that contacted his chief engineer. 'Prepare the hypno-beam,' he ordered, 'and…' examining Neyla, he knew that this new task for her would be long term. He needed to keep her under his control without constantly having to repeat the process, 'set it to a high level.'

The engineer was ready with the hypno-beam minutes after Arpeggio had given the order and was already attaching it to Arpeggio's vehicle. Before too long, the parrot was on the way down to Neyla's cell at the far end of the blimp.

Approaching the cell, Arpeggio made sure the tigress was harmless through the security feed before opening the door.

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

The door opened to reveal Arpeggio, his usual "I'm better than you" look on his face that made Neyla want to throw up. Before the door had even fully opened, the tigress was on her feet, ready to pounce. 'Calm yourself, Neyla,' the parrot calmly spoke as one of his guard's gun packs targeted her, 'you have another assignment.'

'You can stuff your assignments, runt,' Neyla spat, 'I'm not helping you again.' Though keeping her eyes on Arpeggio, Neyla assessed the situation. Two scarily tall toucans armed with backpack like guns flanked Arpeggio, but besides that, the parrot was helpless. Though, before she went to attack, she remembered the cave in India and how Arpeggio had deceived her.

'You can't run Neyla,' Arpeggio scoffed, 'you would just walk into another of my traps; and even if you did manage to get past us, this blimp is thousands of feet above the ground. There's nowhere to go.' Neyla was temporarily taken aback by this, was she really that easy to read? _No,_ she thought, _of course not, Arpeggio is just too clever._

Just as she was about to make her move, Neyla heard the soothing music from the cave. 'No!' she screamed, but it was already too late. Arpeggio activated the lights and within seconds, the tigress had fallen under Arpeggio's control once again.

* * *

Arpeggio p.o.v

No matter how many times he did it, Arpeggio never got tired of watching someone get hypnotized. Neyla had gone rigid from the treatment, her eyes matching the colours that were being projected. The tigress was already under, but he needed to make sure she was still his. This war between the Contessa and Interpol was more than likely going to take a while, and even so, as soon as the Contessa was dealt with, Jean Bison was next. The parrot's shipping expert had four Clockwerk parts, and even without Dimitri, there was enough throughout Paris for him to make his move once he had all the parts again.

After two minutes, the parrot finally shut off the projector, letting the tigress crumple to the floor. 'Neyla,' Arpeggio called, using his soothing voice, 'you have work to do.' Within seconds, the Neyla who was just standing there was gone, replaced by the dark side of her personality, the one that craved power, that deceived to get what she wanted, who he generally referred to as Anti-Neyla in his notes. The tigress stretched, dusted off her clothing, and then made eye contact with Arpeggio.

'How long was I out this time?' She asked, the fear that once laced it replaced with malice.

'A couple weeks,' Arpeggio explained, 'we have another problem.'

Neyla smirked, 'So, which of your old partners are we double-crossing today?'

'The Contessa; the Cooper Gang escaped from prison, revealing her operations to Interpol in the process. She has become a liability and the Clockwerk Eyes must be recovered.'

'What about the plan?' Neyla asked.

'I'm already working on a solution my dear,' Arpeggio turned and wheeled out of the cell, closely followed by the Constable, 'which I will tell you of once we have the Eyes.'

'Fine,' Neyla replied, slightly dejected, 'so how do we get to the Contessa? She does have a small army in the castle, right?'

'Correct,' Arpeggio stopped by the edge of the blimp, looking down at Paris, which the blimp had slowed over, 'Interpol wants her gone, and your influence among them will no doubt get you what you need.

Arpeggio turned to Neyla, 'go to Interpol, get some extra firepower, and take down the Contessa.'

Neyla gave a mock bow, 'may I have my things?'

Arpeggio smiled, 'They're in the usual place,' Neyla nodded and headed for the main part of the blimp, 'and Neyla!' The tigress looked over her shoulder, annoyed, 'the Eyes are priority one. Recover them before you destroy the castle.' Neyla nodded and continued on her way.

 _Regular Neyla is a traitor,_ Arpeggio thought, _but Anti-Neyla is too cunning. Once I have all the parts, I need to be cautious with the amount of hypno-therapy I give her._

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Sly and the gang had been in hiding ever since Bentley had busted them out of prison. The hideout wasn't an option as the place was under heavy guard following their arrest. Interpol wasn't taking any chances with them, so they had been living out of their van ever since, which wasn't unusual for them, as they did spend a lot of time in the van while on jobs.

While still no closer to locating the Contessa, the gang had been hiding in Prague for the last few days, setting up a base of operations in a defunct sewer system. After a few days there, the place was surprisingly homely, thanks to a large amount of furniture that they stole from people who didn't need it. Murray was watching TV that Bentley SOMEHOW managed to get to work (Sly wasn't even gonna bother trying to figure it out), Bentley himself was scanning Prague for any high levels of, what he called, "mojo", which he had noticed the Contessa was very good at using back at the prison. Sly, however, had his mind on things other than payback on the Contessa. Even while breaking Murray out of prison, Sly couldn't stop thinking about the split-second of terror he'd seen in Neyla's eyes back in India. What was she so worried about? Being defeated? No, that couldn't be it; he was in chains for God's sake. Sly couldn't think of any answers until recently, after seeing what the Contessa had done to Murray, and what Bentley had said she had really been doing.

 _Mind control?_ Sly thought, though he seemed to doubt this theory. _No one, no matter how much they've been messed with, can go from being so friendly to that evil._

'I've found her!' Bentley's voice broke the silence, prompting Murray and Sly both barreled over to the turtle. 'The readings are almost off the charts in that castle in the centre of town,' Bentley explained, pointing to a map on his laptop, 'I looked into it, and the locals all say that the place is where an angry widow keeps her army of ghosts and demons.'

'And tanks,' Sly put in.

'And tanks, thanks Sly,' Bentley clicked to a different page, 'now I've been looking into the Contessa's hypno-therapy reports from the prison, and I've found several reports of, "extra corrupt" criminals being taken to an undisclosed location for special treatment. I paid this no mind before, but now-'

'You think she has the Clockwerk Eyes?' Sly interjected.

'It's highly possible!'

'And if these reports spoke of special treatment, it's possible Carmelita is being held there!'

'I dunno about that, but the chances are, the Contessa has the Eyes at this estate,' without saying another word, Bentley packed up his equipment as Sly and Murray prepared to move out.

'Well then,' Sly muttered as the trio climbed up onto street level and climb into the van, 'time for a little payback.'

* * *

It took ten minutes to get from their base to the Contessa's castle, as there were a particularly large number of tanks heading in the direction of the castle as well. 'Ok, this can't be a coincidence,' Sly commented, 'what's going on?'

'Whatever it is,' Murray replied, 'I think we should get off the road.'

'Agreed,' Bentley noted. Murray made a hard right and pulled into an alley and quickly stopped the van. As soon as the car had stopped, Sly used his cane to flip up and onto a nearby rooftop. Once there, he pulled out his binocucom to see…

'Neyla?' Sly said, shocked to see the tigress. The Constable was leading the swarm of tanks towards the castle, and would no doubt have the spider and her armies corralled with minutes. The raccoon jumped back into the van and pulled the door shut.

'Neyla's somehow gotten control of Interpol's army division,' Sly explained, 'they look about ready for war.'

'Good,' Murray growled, 'double the payback, huh?'

'I need to find out what happened back in India anyway-'

'We don't have time guys!' Bentley interrupted.

'What do you mean?' The raccoon and hippo asked in unison.

'The plan changed as soon as we figured out the Clockwerk Eyes were here,' the turtle explained, 'revenge is secondary at this point.'

'But-'

'He's right, Murray,' Sly received a shocked look from Murray, 'and if Carmelita's here, then she's the secondary objective. Who knows what horrors the Contessa's subjecting her to.'

'While I can't say the same about Carmelita, getting revenge on Neyla and the Contessa will have to wait. The Eyes are too dangerous to be left in the hands of that psycho.' Murray said nothing for a few seconds.

'Fine,' he finally growled, 'but if the Eyes or Carmelita aren't really here, I'm punching Neyla and the Contessa first.'

Sly chuckled, 'Can't argue with that big guy.' Bentley gave Murray directions to a suitable safe house location as Sly pondered Neyla's presence here. _Maybe she really did lie to me,_ he thought, _but I need to speak with her first._

 **What did you guys think of the Arpeggio p.o.v? Do you wanna see more alternate p.o.v's in the future? Let me know and as always, Rate and Review! Also, I won't be using the term "Anti-Neyla" much, it's just so you don't get confused which version of Neyla you're following as there will be some sections in the next few chapters that follow "Anti-Neyla." So yeah, that's why that's a thing.**


	4. Playing with Heartstrings

**Set during and after Sly 2, Episode 5**

Chapter Four

Sly p.o.v

'Shadow Guard!' The Contessa yelled, running from the angry vixen, 'Shadow Guard!' Sly held in a laugh as the black widow scurried from the room, closely followed by the recently released Carmelita. Sly opened the grate and helped Bentley set the bad mojo bomb to blast the Clockwerk Eyes free of the Contessa's Mindshuffler

'Remember Sly,' Bentley muttered as he primed the explosive, 'Get as far away as you can. That mojo is gonna have a massive kick, and you don't wanna be near it when it goes off.'

'Of course.' Sly replied, moving to the other side of the room. Bentley activated the timer and bolted over to Sly as the bomb went off, blasting him across the room.

'Bentley!' Sly called, 'are you OK?' Sly heard coughing, though he couldn't tell where it was coming from.

'This is no place for an asthmatic,' Bentley replied, making Sly sigh in relief, 'I've found one of the Clockwerk Eyes! Can you see the other?'

Sly heard chuckling coming from where he assumed was the door. 'Don't worry about it lads,' the voice stated. Sly's eyes widened, **She** was here.

'I have the Eye,' Neyla explained, 'safe and sound.'

'NEYLA?!' Sly exclaimed, unsure whether to be happy or furious to see the tigress.

'Thanks for clearing out the Contessa,' Neyla smiled darkly from under her hijab, 'Nothing I did could pry her away from the Eyes. Hmm, one should be enough for the old bird.' Before Sly could question what she meant, she had bolted out the door. The raccoon started running after her.

'Bentley,' he called, 'take the Eye and escape on the blimp! It's time Neyla and I had a little chat.' Sly hurried out of the tower, not willing to let the tigress escape.

* * *

Anti-Neyla p.o.v

'That Cooper is a persistent one,' Neyla muttered as she saw Sly running after her from the corner of her eye. The tigress, though she despised the raccoon, couldn't help but admire Cooper's determination as she jumped off the roof of the Contessa's castle and opened her paraglider. _He's kinda cute as well,_ She thought. Neyla's eyes widened when those thoughts entered her mind. _Where did that come from?_ She wondered, _I left that scum to the Contessa, and now I'm checking him out?_ As Neyla did her best to escape the raccoon, a voice entered her mind.

 _Please get out of my body!_ The voice begged.

'What are you talking about?' Neyla hissed, 'you're the intruder!'

 _You shouldn't even exist!_ The voice was practically sobbing, something that made Neyla sick.

'Shut up!' She growled, almost running into a wall in the process.

'Neyla!' Sly yelled, 'just slow down and let's talk!'

'Nothing to talk about, Cooper!' Neyla yelled back, doing her best to sound confident. Neyla wanted Cooper to think that she wasn't afraid, but in reality, the tigress was worried. _Who was the owner of that voice?_ She pondered as she changed course to get back to the top of the castle, _Am I going crazy?_ She asked herself.

 _No,_ the voice explained, _you're not._

'Get out of my head!' Neyla practically screamed but silenced herself quickly to ensure Cooper didn't hear her. _What is happening to me?_

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

This had never happened during her blackouts before. Neyla washaving a dream that felt so real she was certain she was there.

She saw, a castle in the dead of night. Prague? She wasn't sure, but she was running from something, or someone, and getting tired quickly. She watched as this different version of herself ran from this mysterious figure. Neyla looked behind her and saw who was chasing her. 'Sly?' She asked, though the raccoon couldn't hear her, naturally. This was when her blackouts started to make a strange kind of sense. _Arpeggio has been brainwashing me,_ she thought, _he's turning me into something I'm not, making me do terrible things that go against my wishes!_ The sudden realization made Neyla want to scream. She wasn't dreaming, she was seeing actions that were not her own, through her own eyes. Arpeggio had been making her live a double life, and in this other life, she was following Arpeggio willingly. She might never escape if her other self actually **wanted** to follow Arpeggio's madness. This was when an idea came to her. If she really wasn't dreaming, and she was watching her other self work, she had to try to regain control.

'Please get out of my body!' She begged, trying to attract her other self's attention.

'You're the intruder!' Her other self replied as she blew up a fuel tank. Neyla wasn't sure how to approach this matter, so she looked into her own memories. She thought about that date with Sly she'd never be able to have, how she intended to take down Arpeggio's operation. And then she looked into her other self's memories. She saw Sly unconscious, and saw her own face smiling at his pain. She saw Sly, Carmelita and the hippo being carted off to the Contessa's prison, and she saw her other self stealing one of the Clockwerk parts. Neyla grew desperate.

'You shouldn't even exist!' She sobbed as her other self changed course.

'Shut up!' Her other self spat.

'Neyla!' the voice came out of nowhere, but she knew it was Sly, 'just slow down and let's talk!'

'Nothing to talk about, Cooper!' Neyla's other self yelled at the raccoon.

 _Sly,_ Neyla thought, _help me._

Neyla heard her other self's thoughts: _Am I going crazy?_

'No,' she explained, trying to make her other self see reason, 'you're not.'

'Get out of my head!' Neyla's other self screamed as she reached the top of the castle. _What is happening to me?_ The other Neyla thought, only for the real one to interrupt her.

'Watch where you're going!' Neyla screamed.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Sly scurried up the wall of the castle, he wasn't going to stop chasing her until he either got answers or she gave him the Eye. Though he would prefer to get both. He reached the roof of the castle, looked around to see Neyla trapped in, what was probably, one of the Contessa's webs, with the Eye just out of her reach. He walked towards her, his cane lowered.

'There's no where left to run Neyla,' he stated, picking up the Eye as he did, 'time to talk.'

'There is nothing to talk about!' Neyla yelled, struggling to break free.

'Back in India you handed me over to the Contessa, but I saw that look in your eye,' Sly walked up to the tigress and was mere inches from her face, 'you were scared for my life.'

'No I wasn't!' Neyla replied, wanting so badly to punch the raccoon in the face.

'You knew the Contessa's methods and you knew what she would do to me in that prison.'

'Shut…up!' Neyla continued to struggle.

'I think this act you're putting on is just to please whoever it is you're working for,' Sly gave his usual smug grin, 'you've never wanted to hurt me.'

Neyla spat in Sly's face, prompting him to wipe it away. 'You know nothing about me,' she growled, 'you didn't even know me until that Cairo job and your flirting came out of nowhere at the palace, flirting that was not wanted.'

Sly was disappointed but the tigress had a point. He was so desperate to prove that she wasn't who she appeared to be that he had ignored all the facts: He didn't know anything about her, she could've very easily been putting on an act, an act he had fallen for.

Slightly saddened, Sly started to walk away. 'Don't even think about walking away!' Neyla screamed after him, 'give me the Eye! GIVE IT TO ME!' Sly looked back at Neyla just in time to see the tigress get pulled out of the web and thrown off the roof. Taken aback, Sly looked up to see the Contessa, staring down at him.

* * *

Anti-Neyla p.o.v

The voice had been screaming inside Neyla's head during her conversation with Sly and had ceased long enough for her to pull out her paraglider to escape being turned into a tiger pancake. Neyla glided outside of the castle walls and landed on the city side of the Contessa's river. Once she landed, the voice resumed pestering her, prompting her to block her ears in an attempt to silence it.

'Who are you and what do you want?' Neyla demanded as she writhed on the floor in agony.

 _I want you to leave my body,_ the voice replied, _you don't belong here._

'I don't know what you're talking about!' Neyla breathed, 'this has **always** been my body!'

 _Neyla,_ the voice interrupted, _think back to before you arrested Sly in India._ Though reluctant, the tigress did as she was told. She thought back to how the thoughts of Sly had begun back at the palace, and that the raccoon had asked her out on a date at the temple and she'd said **yes**. It was like she was a completely different person.

 _Can't you see?_ The voice asked, _I am the real Neyla! Arpeggio has been using us to get what he wants! He's been hypnotising me! Turning me into you._

'I can't believe you!' Neyla breathed, 'I won't!'

 _You have to!_ The voice was getting desperate again, _Arpeggio has made me a completely different person so that I would be more obedient, and you're just the result of that! You're just the dark side of my personality._

'And what if it isn't the other way around?' Neyla struggled to her feet, no longer trying to block out the voice, 'what if this is who Neyla truly is, and Arpeggio is just letting me loose?'

'That is correct, my dear,' Neyla spun around to see Arpeggio wheeling towards her, 'what you are hearing is just the after effects of a new experiment I've been conducting.'

'What do you mean?' Neyla demanded.

'For some time, you have been suffering blackouts, correct?' the parrot asked.

Neyla thought for a second until she understood what the bird was getting at. 'Yes,' she replied, 'my memories are that of this other side of me before the temple.'

'Exactly,' Arpeggio exclaimed, 'I saw that there was something wrong with you when you returned from the Cairo mission.'

 _That is not true!_ The voice yelled, _he's lying!_ Neyla did her best to listen to the parrot.

'I started working on a way to give your mind back, so I had the Contessa use her hypnosis on the other you while I worked on my own device,' Arpeggio gestured for Neyla to walk towards him, 'I eventually came up with a way to silence the other side of you, allowing you to control your actions again.'

 _He's a liar,_ the voice stated, _don't listen to him!_

'Can you silence her? _'_ Neyla asked.

'Of course,' Arpeggio flicked a switch in his mechanical birdcage, sounding a soothing tune, 'just…relax.' Arpeggio flicked another switch and a set of lights was projected out of the device, yellow, red and green, all on a loop. Neyla's mind went blank for what felt like a minute, but when the lights subsided, the voice had simply, left.

Neyla looked up at the bird and smiled. 'Thank you, Arpeggio.' She said.

'A pleasure,' Arpeggio replied, looking up at the castle, 'now…I need you to deal with the Contessa.'

'What do you mean?' Neyla raised her eyebrow.

'Hand the Contessa over to Interpol,' Arpeggio explained, 'and you will no doubt get a promotion.'

Neyla smiled, seeing the opportunity in taking down the Contessa. 'Consider it done.' She stated.

'Excellent,' Arpeggio chuckled, 'meet me back at the blimp when you are done.'

Without another word said, Neyla turned and bolted back to the castle, leaving Arpeggio alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Arpeggio p.o.v

 **2 hours later**

Arpeggio was at the helm of his blimp, awaiting Neyla's return. Anti-Neyla's mind was weak, and therefore could be moulded to suit his purpose. What he hadn't accounted for was the real Neyla sowing seeds of doubt in Anti-Neyla's mind. This alternate version of Neyla was an obedient slave but now that the real Neyla had made her presence known to her…

 _This could complicate things,_ he thought, _I wonder what triggered Neyla's mind to emerge?_ Arpeggio had had to make Anti-Neyla believe that she was the real one so that she would willingly let herself get hypnotised, but with the real Neyla now able to get inside her head, Anti-Neyla would probably look for a way to make her the only one, and Arpeggio didn't know how far the tigress would go to do that.

'I'm over thinking things,' Arpeggio muttered. He was about to head back to his part of the blimp when a voice sounded in his birdcage.

'Mr. Arpeggio,' one of the parrot's goons called, 'Neyla's back.'

'Excellent,' Arpeggio replied, 'send her up to me at the helm.'

'Of course,' the goon replied, shutting off the communicator.

A few minutes later the tigress walked through the door, looking notably less distressed than before. 'It's good to see you Neyla,' Arpeggio exclaimed, gesturing her forward, 'I assume the Contessa has been dealt with?'

'Who do you think I am, Arpeggio?' Neyla asked, taken aback ever so slightly, 'I'm not some ordinary con artist.'

'So you **did** get promoted?' Arpeggio asked, leaning forward slightly.

'Captain Neyla, at your service,' Neyla took a small bow.

'Perfect,' Arpeggio chuckled, 'though we lost the Eyes, it does present us with a rare opportunity.'

'Meaning?' Neyla asked.

'Jean Bison's Iron Horses will not be needed much longer and the Cooper Gang will be going after the Lungs and Stomach soon,' Arpeggio explained, with Neyla listening intently, 'we need to recover them and if not, then I have a backup plan.'

'The Northern Light Battery?' Neyla interjected.

'The Northern Light Battery,' Arpeggio smiled, happy Neyla was keeping up, 'the Cooper Gang will be looking into the battery after they take the Lungs and Stomach, and we'll use this curiosity of theirs to recover the parts.'

'Clever,' Neyla chuckled, 'but how do I fit in?'

'Whether the Cooper Gang recovers all the parts or not, I need to start rebuilding the Clockwerk frame if our plan is to succeed and therefore, we'll need to move up the timetable. That's where you come in.'

'You want me to swipe the Lungs and Stomach from the trains?' Neyla asked.

'Exactly,' Arpeggio replied, 'you're a fast learner.'

Neyla wandered over to the helm of the blimp, 'So how do I do it?' she asked.

'I've secured an aerial vehicle for you to use,' Arpeggio explained, 'it's in Nunavut Bay.'

'I'll head there right away,' Neyla turned to leave.

'Neyla,' the tigress stopped in her tracks, 'keep a low profile.'

The tigress said nothing and walked out of the room. _That girl will need to be put down once I have all the parts._ He thought as he turned his thoughts back to his plans.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

The gang's hideout had finally been dropped from police supervision, allowing them to get back and recuperate. Once Murray had parked the van Sly vaulted off the driveway and through an open window. The previous day hadn't exactly gone to plan. They may have rescued Carmelita, but the Contessa nearly stole the Eye and now Sly's thoughts on Neyla were being challenged.

'Sly?' Bentley called from the door as he entered, 'what's wrong?'

Sly didn't reply immediately, but after ten seconds of silence he finally spoke up. 'I spoke to Neyla about what happened in India and…' Sly trailed off, the wound Neyla had made had cut deep.

'And?' Bentley insisted.

'…She spat in my face,' Sly explained, 'like she didn't care what I felt.'

'Oh man,' Murray muttered from the other side of the room, 'that's rough.'

'Yeah,' Sly laid his cane on his desk, next to the Thievius Raccoonus. 'If Neyla truly feels nothing for me than I was just fooling myself before. She doesn't care for me...time to move on.'

'I'm glad you finally caught onto that, Sly,' Bentley replied, sighing, 'she **did** lock you up after all.'

'Yeah, you don't have to remind me.' Without saying another word, Sly walked into his bedroom and, without even changing, flopped on the bed, falling into an uneasy sleep.

 **Rate and Review!**


	5. Bracing for the Worst

**Set after Sly 2, Episode 6, during episode 7 and 8**

Chapter Five

Anti-Neyla p.o.v

Neyla had not seen Arpeggio in a few days. With the task of recovering Jean Bison's Clockwerk parts from the Iron Horse trains not going as smoothly as hoped, Neyla had been forced to go into hiding in one of the huts at the edge of town to find the right moment to strike.

Now, however, Neyla was in the snow out in the middle of nowhere and, to make matters worse, her other side had started talking to her again.

 _You don't want to do this,_ the voice commented, _do you?_

'It's what I have to do,' Neyla replied, 'only when Clockwerk is complete can I finally be free.'

 _Free from what?_ The voice asked, shocked, _Arpeggio?_

'That,' Neyla smiled, remembering the plan she had been developing since Prague, 'and finally be free of you.'

 _What?!_ The voice screamed, causing Neyla to block her ears, _what do you mean?_

'You're a plague Neyla,' the tigress hissed, 'only when you are finally gone can I spread my wings and take flight!'

 _You…_ the voice was confused, _what do you want with Clockwerk?_

'The parrot never told you?' Neyla laughed, though her head was starting to throb with pain, 'stick around long enough and you might find out.'

 _Listen to me Neyla,_ the voice pleaded, _this is not the way. Let me show you!_

The pain had become unbearable, 'Shut up you little git!' she screamed and, without another word, collapsed in the snow.

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

 **12 hours later**

Neyla snapped awake. For the first time in weeks, her mind was her own again. She couldn't believe her luck; Arpeggio had let her come back use her body again!

Even simple tasks like walking were surprisingly hard. Her legs weren't weak; she had just spent so much time observing she had all but forgotten. Neyla looked around and recognized the familiar layout of Arpeggio's cell but didn't care for the moment. She reached for her hip and found her whip in its usual place, prompting her to break into a big smile.

After readjusting to actually using her body, Neyla came to her senses. _**Why**_ had Arpeggio let her come back? Was it just an accident? Or was it part of something more…intricate? Was she about to learn who Clockwerk really was? After all, she'd only heard rumors, never facts.

 _And why do I care?_ She thought, _if even half of the rumors are true, I don't think I wanna be a part of it!_

Before she could continue her train of thought, Neyla heard a door opening behind her. The tigress spun around to see a pair of Arpeggio's goons standing in the doorway. 'Arpeggio wants to speak with you,' one of them grunted, locking his gun on her, 'try anything and you lose your legs.'

'Why would I try anything?' Neyla demanded, slightly shocked by the thug's bluntness, 'we're hundreds, if not _**thousands**_ , of feet above the ground.' The thug growled pointing the tigress out the door.

The thugs, their guns always trained on the girl, led Neyla to Arpeggio's section of the blimp. _There's not much I can do anyway, the tigress_ thought, _might as well find out what he's up to._

* * *

Arpeggio p.o.v

Arpeggio didn't want to wake the real Neyla up, but he theorized that the continued strain of being under hypnosis was damaging the tigress' brain so he needed to let the real one stretch her legs before the plan was complete.

As if on cue, the tigress was escorted through the door to Arpeggio's study and was instantly shocked to see the mechanical brain on display. 'Leave us,' Arpeggio ordered his men who promptly left the room and started patrolling the larger room just outside.

Neyla was staring slack-jawed at the Clockwerk Brain, prompting Arpeggio to chuckle. 'Is it not beautiful?' he asked the tigress, 'immeasurable power and technology, created for the sole purpose of keeping its owner alive.'

'What do you want with the Brain?' Neyla asked, 'my other side mentioned something about Clockwerk.'

'So you really were there,' Arpeggio mused, 'I simply assumed your other side was going insane.'

'You didn't answer my question,' Neyla growled. Arpeggio could tell the girl was just about ready to strike at him, so he had to play his cards right.

'You've no doubt heard about Clockwerk's innate ability to live forever?' Arpeggio cautiously asked.

'Well,' Neyla paused, 'no. No one's ever mentioned it.'

'Ha, well,' Arpeggio turned to face the tigress, 'according to my records, Clockwerk has lived since _**at l**_ _ **east**_ 1300 B.C, making him over three thousand years old.'

'How?' Neyla couldn't help but ask, which was exactly what Arpeggio wanted.

'Hate, my girl,' Arpeggio smiled, 'pure, unrelenting, hate. He _**hated**_ the Cooper Clan, and would do _**anything**_ to see them wiped out. So, he mechanized his entire body and, with hate as his energy, he tormented the Cooper Clan for thousands of years until, two years ago, your friend Sly Cooper defeated him.'

'And he should've stayed that way,' Neyla growled as Arpeggio approached her.

'Indeed,' the parrot noted, 'but it was his hatred for Cooper that kept him alive. And now, I'm going to use hate to give myself a new body.'

'You want to take Clockwerk's body for yourself?' Neyla asked, horrified, 'that's insane!'

'It's called evolving, my girl,' Arpeggio needed to keep her focus until he could activate the hypno-beam, 'this body is too small… it's time for one _**much**_ bigger.'

'You can't though!' Neyla yelled, 'you don't have Clockwerk's hatred for the Cooper Clan!'

'That is where the Northern Light Battery comes in,' _No harm in telling her,_ he thought.

'What's the Northern Light Battery?' Neyla questioned.

'My larger version of the Contessa's hypnosis,' Arpeggio explained, 'that, coupled with the large amount of spice that has been distributed throughout Paris, should allow me to use the hatred from the people of the city to complete the transformation.'

'But you only have the Brain!' Neyla yelled, 'Sly has the others!' Arpeggio was playing a dangerous game, but he needed time to prepare the hypno-beam for a larger dose of hypnosis.

'Maybe, my dear,' Arpeggio calmly replied, 'but he and his gang are on their way to Jean Bison's secondary base of operations. I trust Jean to deliver the parts to me soon.'

'I won't let you do this, you monster!' Neyla charged Arpeggio, forcing the parrot to activate the hypno-beam.

 _Thank goodness I won't have to listen to her once I'm integrated into the Clockwerk frame,_ Arpeggio thought. After about half a minute of hypnotism, the parrot shut off the projector, letting Neyla crumple to the floor in a heap. When she awoke, she was Anti-Neyla once again.

'Thank you for that, Arpeggio,' said the tigress.

'Not a problem, my dear,' Arpeggio replied, releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

'What do we do now that _**she**_ has been silenced again?' Neyla asked, rage filling her eyes.

'We prepare the blimp to pick up the Northern Light Battery,' Arpeggio explained, 'speak with the chief engineer, he's in charge of the pickup.'

'As you wish…' nothing else was spoken as the tigress practically marched out of the room, leaving Arpeggio to think.

 _One chapter has closed,_ he thought, _another begins._

* * *

Sly p.o.v

 **Two hours later**

Sly looked over his two friends as they sat inside the Northern Light Battery, trying to distract themselves as they waited for the right time to move. Bentley was buried in some transcripts with senseless plans scribbled over it. Sly knew the turtle was slightly shaken from his fight with Jean Bison but he _**seemed**_ relatively calm now.

Murray, however, was really worrying him. The hippo hadn't even looked at his friends after seeing the van float away. He wasn't going to hide how distraught he felt, making Sly feel all the more helpless as a friend, seeing _**The Murray**_ so upset.

Sly, seeing no point to continue his observations, turned his gaze outside as he thought about what was to come. The Clockwerk parts had been stolen, Arpeggio no doubt had some evil plan for the body and was probably gonna try to kill him. Unfortunately, his thoughts kept moving away from Arpeggio and back to the two policewomen from Cairo.

 _Now is NOT the time to think about that,_ Sly thought, _Neyla tried to kill me for God's sake! And threw me in the slammer!_

Sly had no idea why Neyla kept coming up in his thoughts. He understood why Carmelita kept coming up, he needed to clear her name after all, but the tigress tried to kill him back on the third Iron Horse train, and yet, he still had feelings for her. _What is wrong with me?_ Sly asked himself. Before he could even think about responding, Bentley made an almost silent cry.

'Alright guys,' he cried, 'here's the plan.'

Bentley went into a long speech about how he intended to search for electromagnetic pulses to figure out where Arpeggio was assembling Clockwerk so that Sly could potentially stop the reconstruction. Sly was listening, but at the same time, he kept thinking that, once Clockwerk was gone, he should look into Neyla's past a bit, see if there was anything he missed.

'Sly?' Bentley called.

'Yeah?' Sly asked, breaking from his train of thought.

'Are you ready to go?' the turtle asked, clearly concerned, if slightly impatient.

'Yeah,' Sly responded, ready to track down Arpeggio, 'just tell me what to do.'

 **This is the last chapter to be FULLY set during Sly 2. I will acknowledge some things that I didn't go over before but besides that, everything from this point onwards, takes place AFTER the destruction of Clock-La. Rate and Review!**


	6. Aftermath

**Set after Sly 2**

Chapter Six

Neyla p.o.v

Neyla had no idea what had happened. The last thing she remembered before Arpeggio's latest hypnosis was the runt explaining his plan to her. When she wakes up, she's a giant mechanical owl.

Once Neyla saw this and, Sly's turtle friend being carried away by the hippo, she had to force her way out of the machine. Practically punching the inside of the mechanical owl, Neyla regained control of her body and, just as Carmelita destroyed a small chip, managed to escape the prison before it turned to dust.

Neyla took a deep breath, taking in fresh air, something she hadn't properly experienced since India.

Neyla took off her hijab to fully reconnect with her senses when she saw Sly looking in her direction. Knowing that, whatever her other self had done, the raccoon wouldn't be overly thrilled to see her, Neyla sprinted across the bank of the Seine, climbing an apartment building and ducking out of sight. Reaching the roof, Neyla slumped onto the concrete surface and took deep breaths, reacquainting herself with her old friend, fresh air.

When she was calm and not taking in huge breaths, Neyla saw a helicopter taking off from where she had seen Sly. _Carmelita,_ she thought, _what happened while I was out?_ Having no more time to rest, as she knew either Sly or Carmelita could see her from the chopper, Neyla replaced her hijab and bolted across the rooftops.

'I'll need to find a way to prove my innocence,' the tigress muttered, 'preferably without turning myself in.' Neyla darted across the Paris skyline and, once the chopper was out of sight, slowed to a walk.

Neyla examined the rooftop she had ended up on. It was relatively bare, nothing special about it, but the tigress managed to find shelter under a slab of concrete, clearly an error in the design of the building. With nothing to feed herself with, her appetite had disappeared anyway, Neyla lay down under the slab and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Paragliding away from the chopper, Sly heard Carmelita's words echoing across the Parisian skyline: 'I'll find you, Cooper!' the vixen called, bringing a smile to the raccoon's face. Landing a few blocks away from the Eiffel Tower, Sly slipped into an alleyway and hopped into the sewers. Remaining silent, Sly made sure he wasn't followed until he started down the pipeline, looking for the sewer entrance to the hideout.

The long walk back to the hideout gave the raccoon time to think over the past few hours. Neyla had been working for Arpeggio, trying to get the Clockwerk parts back to the parrot, then proceeded to double-cross Arpeggio, killed him, and attempted to use the Clockwerk frame to become immortal. If it wasn't for the combined efforts of the gang and Carmelita, Neyla would've succeeded and Clockwerk would've been reborn as Clock-La.

Sly shuddered at the thought of having to find a way to destroy Clockwerk AGAIN, and with the girl he had feelings for at its core.

 _Neyla,_ Sly thought, remembering what he had seen among the ruins of Clockwerk: A Bengal tigress running into the cement jungle that is Paris. If Neyla really was alive, he would need to find her before Bentley, Murray or Carmelita did. He was slightly less likely to kill her than them so he had to be the one to deal with her.

That didn't mean Sly wasn't angry with Neyla, quite the opposite, given the chance he would beat her to an inch of her life for what she did to Bentley.

Pushing those thoughts aside, the raccoon followed the sewer system underneath the city until he found what he was looking for: a carving of the Cooper insignia on the wall by a ladder, signifying he was under the hideout.

Climbing the ladder and lifting the trapdoor, Sly found himself in the back room of the eerily empty hideout; no Bentley, no Murray, no van.

'Our little group is going to change,' Sly thought out loud, 'and it's all because of her.' Sly needed to find Neyla and make her pay, but he had to wait for Bentley and Murray first. The turtle's wellbeing was more important than getting even with a tigress with a God Complex after all.

Not seeing anything else to do, Sly rested his head in his arms and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Murray p.o.v

Murray carried the unconscious body of Bentley through the streets of Paris, unsure of what to do. Usually, the plans came from Bentley and sometimes, even Sly, but now, Murray was holding the smart one in his arms and Sly was somewhere in the city.

The hippo adjusted his grip on the small turtle as he turned the corner, heading for the hospital. He knew that walking into the hospital a known criminal, with an unconscious body in his hands, wouldn't be the best idea, but it was better option than the two medically unaware friends attempting to fix up Bentley's legs.

Murray walked in silence, not bothering to make eye contact with any onlookers, confused by the sight of a hippo carrying a turtle through the streets. The hippo may have been lost and his friends may not have been able to help, but one name kept coming up that he knew was responsible for this:

 _Neyla,_ Murray thought, hatred entering his thoughts, _that damn tigress is responsible for this. Shame Carmelita killed her before I could whale on her._

Murray rounded a corner and at the end of the street saw the hospital. Breaking into a run, doing his best not to harm the turtle, Murray rushed through the front door and bolted towards the desk.

'Please,' Murray yelled to the rabbit lady at the front desk, 'I think his legs are broken!'

'Calm down sir,' the woman replied, dialing some numbers into a phone. 'Get a stretcher up to reception,' the woman ordered through the phone, 'there's a man here who's broken his legs.'

Within seconds, a group of men crashed through a series of doors with a stretcher. Murray gently placed Bentley on the stretcher and the men quickly hurried back down the hall, leaving Murray to run as fast as he could to keep up.

 **I know, not my best, and a bit short. Next chapter will be better, promise!  
** **I'd really like some more feedback on this series so I'd like three more reviews at least before I post the next chapter. I know, I'm evil.**


	7. On the Run

Chapter Seven

Neyla p.o.v

Neyla did NOT have a good sleep that night. Besides the really uncomfortable and cold roof the tigress had been sleeping on, Neyla's dreams were filled with images of hatred, destruction, pain, and one, single, sentence: "I am the Alpha, and the Omega, CLOCK-LA!"

Hearing that sentence, Neyla snapped awake in a cold sweat and would've screamed had she not stopped herself. Breathing heavily, Neyla wiped the sweat from her brow as she curled up into a ball after being hit by a bone-chilling wind. The tigress wasn't unfamiliar with these nightmares, there had been many times, during Arpeggio's hypnosis process, where she'd had nightmares of what her other self had done, and now she would have to live with the fact that she'd nearly turned into an immortal mechanical owl.

'How am I meant to live with myself?' she wondered, wrapping into a tighter ball, 'I can't handle that knowledge.' Neyla sat in silence before turning towards the horizon to watch the sun; it always took her mind off her troubles, but not this time. She needed closure, or she'd go insane.

As the first rays of daylight crept over the Parisian skyline, Neyla found herself thinking of anyone who could help her find peace; she'd need it if she were to seek out Sly and convince him she wasn't mental.

One person kept coming up in her thoughts as she tried to think of a solution, though she didn't want to get caught up in her web again, 'The Contessa should be in one of Interpol's prisons,' she muttered to herself, 'but where?" Neyla thought hard, thinking of how she could find the spider and make the hypnotist heal her mind, when she remembered Carmelita's office: Carmelita had a record of every arrest made, and Neyla knew how to get in.

'That's what I'll do,' Neyla decided before jumping up and stretching, getting her bearings and heading for Interpol.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Sly was incredibly relieved when Murray returned to the hideout. Having been asleep for nearly fourteen hours, Sly was woken by the sound of Murray's heavy footsteps as they crossed the wooden floor.

'Murray!' Sly exclaimed, getting up from his desk, and walking over to his friend, stopping himself from hugging him when he saw the distraught look in the hippo's eyes. Sly stared at Murray, but was unable to read what he was thinking, 'Big guy,' the raccoon sighed, fully understanding why Murray was so upset, 'how's he holding up?'

Murray held back the tears that were, without a doubt, building up behind his eyes and let out a sniff, 'It's not good,' he explained, it was no louder than a whisper, 'he'll live, but they don't think he'll ever be able to walk again.'

The revelation was like a punch to the gut. Sly, now just as distraught as his friend, walked back to his desk and sat on it, unable to believe what he had just heard. 'Are they certain?' he asked, horrified. Murray simply nodded, unable to speak. Unable to hold himself back, Sly walked up to his friend and hugged him, allowing Murray to hold him in his usual bone-crushing grip.

'I'm sorry, Murray,' Sly muttered, 'we took a hit, and we may never shake it off, but he's going to live,' Sly pulled out of the hug and looked at the hippo, 'isn't that something?'

Murray couldn't hold back the tears as they started pouring down his face. The hippo pulled Sly back into a bear hug and he cried, 'This is all my fault,' he sobbed, 'I wasn't fast enough!'

Shocked, Sly simply patted Murray's back as he continued to cry, 'No, big guy,' he insisted, 'this isn't your fault. And it never will be.'

The tears subsided and Murray released Sly, allowing him to take a deep breath. 'You're right,' Murray growled, 'this isn't my fault, it's _**her**_ fault Bentley will never be able to walk again!'

Sly wanted to agree with his friend, but the ever present doubt in Neyla's intentions kept showing itself at the back of his mind, 'Maybe,' he sighed, unable to think of anything else to say.

'There's no "maybe" about it Sly,' Murray yelled, his anger rising, 'look past your own feelings for that bitch and accept it: she _**never**_ loved you!' Sly understood Murray's anger but he hated what the hippo was saying, 'All she wanted was power! For god's sake, she killed Arpeggio when he'd outlived his usefulness, she tricked you into falling for her so that we were easy to throw to the Contessa, and she _**crippled**_ your _**BEST FRIEND**_!'

'I know!' Sly yelled, surprising Murray for the first time in years, 'I know she did all those things, but you don't understand, Murray.' Taking a deep breath, though still visibly angry, Sly continued, 'You can't just act like I'm an idiot for not accepting it, you've never been in my position! I thought Neyla cared about me, she agreed to go on a date with me and then threw me in prison, but I could've sworn I saw a glint of her kindness in her eyes as she had us carted off to prison; so I couldn't help but investigate! I wanted to believe she was putting up an act to get close to Arpeggio…' Murray stared in shock as the raccoon's anger subsided, 'you have _**no idea**_ how I feel Murray, so quit acting like you do and stop treating me like an idiot.'

Murray stared at his friend as the anger left his eyes, and Sly quickly realized what he had just said. The raccoon stuttered as he attempted to find the right words, 'Murray,' he began, 'I'm sorry.'

Murray simply stared before walking away, 'You wanna be left alone? Fine, I'll leave you alone,' Sly was frozen in place, staring after the hippo as he opened the door, 'I'll be in the hospital, watching over our _**friend**_ , if you wanna come find me later.' Without saying another word, Murray walked out of the house, leaving Sly alone with his thoughts.

'What have I done?' he asked himself.

* * *

Carmelita p.o.v

Someone had broken into the Inspector's office, and it wasn't Cooper.

The "first date", as Carmelita had called it, was still fresh on the vixen's mind. Even though the thieving raccoon had gotten away _**again**_ , Carmelita had truly enjoyed herself, and she was looking forward to arresting him again.

However, upon returning to her office the next day, Carmelita was shocked to discover that someone had broken into her office and looked through her files. They hadn't stolen anything, and they didn't leave a calling card, so it wasn't Cooper.

Desperate for answers, Carmelita walked over to her desk and pressed a button, revealing a hidden camera in the desk, one she had installed after Sly had stolen his case file two years earlier.

Examining the footage, the person who had raided the inspector's files was the last person she expected to see:

'How are you alive Neyla?' Carmelita muttered, beyond furious. Knowing who her intruder was, Carmelita searched her files for one that was missing. She had files on drug lords, members of the Klaww Gang, the Fiendish Five and, of course, the Cooper Gang.

What frustrated Carmelita the most, however, was that Neyla had definitely not taken any of the files. She could've been looking for any of them, and the vixen wouldn't know.

However, there was one thing she was certain of: Neyla was alive, and now Carmelita could make her pay. Marching out of the room, Carmelita entered the commissioner's office, 'Commissioner,' she proudly stated, 'let everyone know that "Captain" Neyla is alive, and should be brought in immediately.'

The commissioner looked up at Carmelita and sighed, 'Normally, inspector, I wouldn't take orders from you,' he explained, 'but on this, I'll make an exception.' The commissioner pressed a button on his phone and called into it, 'Attention all officers, our former captain Neyla is still at large. She is to be considered armed and dangerous, but _**do NOT**_ shoot to kill. As of right now, we are on high alert.'

The commissioner looked back and Carmelita, who had a triumphant look on her face, 'With your permission, sir,' she began, 'I would like to lead the search for the fugitive.'

'I know how personal this must be for you, inspector,' the commissioner replied, 'you have my permission.'

'Thank you, sir,' Carmelita replied before leaving his office.

Carmelita walked back to her room and, despite the fact that Neyla was alive, the vixen was more than happy to track down the bitch who had almost ruined her career.

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

After nearly two hours of careful planning and preparation, Neyla had gathered the necessary tools to break into the Contessa's cell without much interference.

Having collected a disguise, the key to the cell, and a way to monitor what the Contessa would being doing while she was repairing the damage to the tigress's mind, Neyla worked her way through the prison, disabling the cell's hidden security camera.

As she approached the Contessa's cell, Neyla noticed other members of the Klaww Gang had been imprisoned there as well. Rajan and Dimitri had both been moved there, while Jean Bison was never actually imprisoned, having disappeared into the Canadian wilderness.

After passing a cell that had been filled up with Dimitri's men, Neyla found the spider, on the wall, reading a book, 'ever a disgusting creature, huh Contessa?' Neyla mocked, prompting the black widow to look up from her book.

'Neyla,' the Contessa sighed, turning back to her book, 'have you come to gloat? Then again, you're meant to be dead, aren't you?' Neyla glared at the Contessa, entering the cell before locking the door again.

'You know why I'm here,' Neyla stated, taking off the cap she had stolen from a guard.

'It's about Arpeggio's hypnosis,' the spider stated, crawling down the wall and placing the book on her bed, 'you want me to do something with it?'

'While I was under, my other half did unspeakable horrors, and I remember them all,' the tigress shuffled her feet, careful not to look the spider in the eye, 'I wanted you to ease the trauma I've been suffering.'

'And why would I do that?' the Contessa asked, reaching for the key, only for Neyla to punch her in the gut.

'Because if you don't, I'll see to it you _**never**_ see the light of day again.'

The Contessa laughed, 'You know, you really can't pull off threatening someone, can you?' she asked, inspecting Neyla, 'I have nothing to gain from this, so we have no business together.'

Neyla growled, she didn't want to pull this card, but she didn't seem to have a choice, 'Undo the damage and I'll help you escape!' Before the Contessa could reply, a series of spotlights blasted through the windows, followed by an all-too-familiar voice on a megaphone.

'Neyla,' the voice of Carmelita called out, 'this is your only chance: Surrender to Interpol, now!'

The Contessa laughed, 'Looks like our meeting must be cut short,' she laughed, returning to her book, 'feel free to let yourself out.'

With panic quickly filling her to the brim, Neyla hurried out of the cell, making sure to lock it again, and ran for the roof.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Sly couldn't convince himself to go to the hospital. Besides the obvious fact that he would probably be arrested before getting anywhere near the building, Sly didn't want to see Bentley in a hospital bed or face Murray after what he had said to him.

In the end, Sly decided to go for a run across the Parisian skyline, hoping to clear his head and, maybe, find Neyla before anyone else did.

It was while he was running around near the Eiffel Tower that Sly noticed something odd: A large amount of police cars, their sirens blaring, speeding towards the prison. 'Is that a breakout?' Sly wondered as he landed on top of a pole, fifty feet above the ground.

Normally, Sly would stay as far away from police patrols as possible, Sly, who didn't want Neyla to be caught by Carmelita, quickly raced after the police.

Stopping on a rooftop near the prison, Sly watched as Carmelita jumped up onto the hood of a patrol car, grabbing a megaphone another officer had handed to her. 'Neyla,' she yelled into the megaphone, 'this is your only chance: Surrender to Interpol, now!'

It didn't take Sly long to figure out what was going on, quickly darting across the rooftops to catch up with Neyla. Moving quickly, Sly reached the roof of the prison just as Neyla crashed through a door after ascending a flight of stairs. Neyla saw Sly and froze in place, with Sly slowing to a walk when he saw her emerge. 'Neyla,' he called, 'I need you to come with me…' Neyla didn't reply, running across the roof and away from him, only for the raccoon to follow.

Practically flying across the rooftops, Sly didn't give up as he followed the tigress, 'Neyla, please!' he yelled, 'you need to let me help you!' The tigress didn't slow down, with Sly pushing himself even harder to catch up.

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

She needed to get away, Neyla couldn't face Sly after what had happened, but the raccoon simply wouldn't take no for an answer. She understood why he wouldn't give up, there was too much he needed answered, but Carmelita would more than likely disembowel her after what she did.

Blocking out Sly's attempts to reach out to her, Neyla dropped from the roof of an apartment building into an alleyway, quickly dropping into a manhole to get away. 'Neyla!' The tigress heard Sly yell as she ran through the filth of the Parisian sewers.

Darting through the labyrinth that was the sewers, Neyla was certain she had lost the raccoon, finding herself at the entrance to a storm drain. Pausing, Neyla took a minute to catch her breath, only to hear footsteps coming from behind her. Turning around, Neyla was met with the concerned face of Sly Cooper.

'Neyla, please,' he called, slowing to a walk as he approached, 'let me help you.'

Neyla, growing desperate turned to face to raccoon, 'Why didn't you try to help me at the Contessa's castle?' she demanded.

'I thought you didn't care about me!' he replied, stopping in his tracks, 'you _**DID**_ bring up some pretty major points.'

'Damn it Sly,' Neyla growled, 'how didn't you catch on?'

'Catch on to what?' Sly demanded, desperation filling his tone.

'Arpeggio was controlling me!' Neyla yelled, 'why else would my personality change so drastically?'

'You could've been putting on an act,' Sly replied, not allowing his voice to rise. Neyla paused. She wanted to hug the raccoon, to make sure that he was sincerely trying to help her. 'Neyla, just let me help you,' Sly started walking towards her again, 'no one else will help you, not after what you did…'

Neyla scoffed at Sly's stubbornness, 'I never wanted to become a mechanical owl! Why don't you understand?'

'Neyla, come with me,' the raccoon was almost within touching distance, 'we can get you help.'

Neyla sighed, 'You just said that no one else will help me after what my other side did. I need to sort this out on my own…'

'Neyla,' the two were a metre apart, and Neyla knew it wouldn't be long until Interpol figured out where she was.

'See you round, ringtail,' Neyla muttered. Taking the opportunity, Neyla grabbed the raccoon and kissed him. The feeling was amazing, and she wanted to hold it forever, but she quickly broke away a second after starting to run down the storm drain and jump into the river.

Quickly regaining her bearings, Neyla dove under the water and swam away from the raccoon. After a minute of swimming, Neyla pulled herself up onto a bank, lying on her back as she relished what kissing Sly Cooper felt like.

 **Rate and review, as per usual!**


	8. Reconciliation

Chapter 8

Sly p.o.v

Sly darted from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding police patrols as he made his way to the hospital. He had put it off long enough. Bentley needed him, and he wasn't going to disappoint his friend.

Sly had run across the Parisian skyline countless times, he could probably do it blindfolded by now, so he let his mind wander back to his encounter with the tigress down in the sewers.

She had kissed him. He hadn't imagined it, and she couldn't have been lying… Neyla had kissed him.

Just thinking about it made Cooper's heart skip a beat. Neyla was telling the truth, she had to be. He just knew it.

Ever since he had confronted her atop the Contessa's castle, Sly had been slightly dead inside. The tigress's claims in Prague were genuine… but this was even more real.

Putting the thoughts aside, Sly dodged a series of antennas, not really wanting to disturb the view sessions of the people inside, thus, drawing unwanted attention to himself.

The raccoon stopped two blocks away from the hospital; dropping into an ally and removing anything that would make him look like a criminal, namely, his mask, cane, belt, and hat. Quickly examining himself in a broken mirror, Sly smiled. He looked like an ordinary raccoon, who might've spent some time on the streets.

Stepping out onto the sidewalk, Sly casually walked up to the hospital, ensuring he didn't make eye contact with any police who might recognise him, before stepping inside and up to the receptionist, a pigeon, who didn't look like she was enjoying being up so early.

'Excuse me,' Sly hesitantly said, quickly putting together a backstory that explained his relationship with Bentley, in case the fake ID didn't check out. The pigeon looked up at him.

'Visiting hours aren't until 8 a.m. sir,' she droned, looking at her watch, 'you've got an hour of waiting ahead of you.'

'Damn it,' Sly groaned, slumping into a nearby chair, 'this is the only time I'm able to come in, surely you can make an exception?' the pigeon stared at the raccoon, a bored look on her face.

'Any particular reason you can't come back in an hour?' she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

'I'm about to go catch a plane to New York,' he explained, mentally crossing his fingers, hoping she would believe him, 'I promised my friend that I would come visit before I left, considering I haven't seen him since before the accident.'

The pigeon stared at Sly, giving him an empathetic look. Sighing, the woman turned on her monitor and started typing, 'Name?' she asked, looking up at him.

'Samuel Cooner,' the raccoon responded, praying she would buy it.

'Alright,' the woman didn't type anything, 'who are you visiting?'

'Bentley…' Sly momentarily paused, 'funny, he never actually told me his last name… he's a turtle, came in yesterday, I believe.'

The receptionist rolled her eyes and flicked through the database, needing to manually track down who Sly was searching for. 'Why is he in hospital?'

'Broken legs,' Cooper responded, getting tired of the conversation.

The pigeon located Bentley on the computer and dialled a number into the phone, 'Hey,' she greeted, 'I've got a guy down here, looking to visit the turtle with broken legs… yeah, the one named Bentley… alright,' the girl hung up the phone. 'You're free to head up,' she droned, turning back to her phone, 'room 235, second floor.'

'Thank you,' Sly smiled, he would've tipped his hat if he was wearing it.

Hurrying up the stairs and down a series of hallways, Sly found the numbers 2-3-5 above one of the doors and entered the room, and was unsurprised to see Murray sitting next to Bentley. The hippo looked up at Sly.

'Sly,' Murray nodded, turning back to Bentley, 'about time you showed up.'

'I was busy,' the raccoon groaned, pulling up a seat next to Bentley. 'You were lucky to get a room to yourself, bud,' Sly noted, prompting Bentley to chuckle, 'how're you holding up?'

'As well as I could be,' the turtle sighed, 'I had my first operation last night, and the doctor's saying the chances of me being able to walk again are… pretty slim.'

Sly stared at his friend in shock, Murray's statement from before finally being confirmed, 'You'll never be able to walk again?' he repeated, the thought tumbling through his mind as he tried to make sense of it.

'I'm not saying it's certain,' Bentley hurriedly added-on,' but it's… quite likely… a 75% chance I'll never be able to walk again.'

'I guess that's not too bad,' the raccoon muttered, somewhat enthusiastically.

'Yeah,' Murray mumbled, 'I guess it is.'

The trio sat in silence as Sly attempted to find the right words to say to his muscular friend. 'Murray,' he finally sighed, breaking the silence, 'about what happened earlier…'

'Sly,' Murray exhaled, 'I'm not interested in anything you have to say on the matter, I don't want to talk about _**her**_ right now.'

'I just wanted to apologise,' the raccoon responded, hiding his frustration towards his friend, 'I was just _**so angry**_ , I wasn't considering all the options.'

Murray stared at his friend in shock, 'I'm honestly surprised you came to terms with it so quickly,' he noted.

'I had time to think it over,' the raccoon lied; despite how much he hated lying to his friends.

'Well I'm glad that's behind us,' Bentley interjected, drawing his friends' attention. 'Sly, you promise you're not gonna get yourself into too much trouble while I'm in here, right?'

'Of course,' Sly promised with a reassuring smile.

'Same with you Murray,' the turtle continued, as Sly noticed the dark rings around the hippo's eyes, 'in fact you should probably get some sleep,' Bentley added on, also noticing the dark rings.

'I guess,' the hippo responded, standing up, 'I'll head home then… coming Sly?'

'No,' Sly exhaled, looking back to his hospitalized friend, 'I'm gonna stay here for a while.'

'Thanks buddy,' Bentley smiled, gripping his friend's hand, 'I could use the company.'

'I'll head home then,' Murray interjected, 'don't want to get in the way of your bromance.'

Sly facepalmed, 'Get going big guy,' Sly ordered, turning to face his friend.

'Fine,' the hippo sighed, 'I'll be back later,' and with that, Murray left the room.

Sly turned to his friend, 'I'm worried about him,' he explained.

'Can you blame him?' Bentley replied, 'Murray's never taken loss well, we saw that when we left the van back in Canada.'

'This isn't loss though,' Sly groaned, 'you're still here, aren't you?'

'Loss can mean many things Sly,' the turtle explained, 'whether the loss of someone you love, or the loss of limbs or the ability to do something. I'm surprised you don't know that.

'Yeah, I guess,' the raccoon exhaled, leaning back in his chair. The friends sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's company, until the turtle yawned. Sly chuckled, 'Why don't you get some sleep bud?' the turtle nodded in agreement, taking off his glasses and snuggling into the pillow.

'You heading home?' Bentley asked, squinting at the raccoon.

'Nah,' Sly responded, 'I'll stay here for a bit, I'm not exactly tired.'

'Fair enough,' Bentley smiled before immediately falling asleep, leaving the raccoon alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

Neyla had been flipping from rooftop to rooftop for at _**least**_ an hour, unable to contain the emotions rushing through her body.

'I kissed him!' she exclaimed, unable to believe it, 'and he _**definitely**_ liked it!'

The tigress had finally convinced herself to stop on a rooftop near Notre Dame, where she sat on the lip of the building, listening to the chiming of the bells. Sly believed in her, just as she had hoped, so now she knew she had an ally amongst the tsunami of people who wanted to kill her.

The woman had been sitting on the rooftop for ten minutes before she started moving again, not wanting to stay in one place for too long.

Dropping down into an alleyway, Neyla considered how she was going to get food. She hadn't really eaten in the last couple days, and it was really starting to become noticeable. The tigress didn't want to eat out of a dumpster, that's how you get diseases, and she was a wanted criminal with no money, there was no way she could buy it. The only option left was the one she wanted to do the least, save eating out of a dumpster: she'd have to steal it.

The tigress could consider her options for very long, as she looked to her left and made eye contact with the one person one this Earth who would do worse things to her than Carmelita: an incredibly angry and vengeful hippo.

Neyla bolted, knowing she wouldn't be able to explain her situation to Sly's friend, considering how close he had been to the turtle. The tigress leapt onto a fire escape and very quickly started climbing, feeling an incredibly heavy weight shake the structure. 'Neyla!' the hippo yelled, 'I'm gonna kill you!' this wasn't one of those friendly, "I'm going to kill you" moments, Neyla could tell: this man wasn't going to stop until she was dead.

Reaching the roof, Neyla very quickly started sprinting along the Parisian skyline, trying to figure out the best place to hide from Sly's friend. Eventually, she settled on the third alley away from the roof she had run from, expertly navigating her way down the fifty foot drop onto the hard cobbles below before hiding under a dumpster.

Listening intently, Neyla heard what she knew signalled the end of the chase: at the top of his lungs, the hippo roared in anger, so loud that anyone in the whole of Paris who was still asleep was probably startled awake.

The tigress remained under the dumpster, afraid to even breathe, in case the hippo had super hearing or something. She just sat there, in silence, hoping the crazed hippo chasing her wasn't nearby.

 **It's ramping up now, isn't it? Rate and Review, please! Seriously, I really appreciate the support, it means a lot to me.**


	9. To Her Defense

**A/N Okay, I know I'm incredibly inconsistent in terms of new chapters, but I AM busy with school, so this isn't my biggest priority, so just understand that that is one of the reasons I don't update very often.**

Chapter 9

Murray p.o.v

Murray had been punching the same wall for five minutes straight, doing his best to vent his anger towards his current situation.

Sly had been lying to him, Neyla was alive, and now Bentley's sacrifice was in vain.

He couldn't believe it. He knew Sly had feelings for the tigress, but to go as far as lying to his friends about her current status was just not fair. Letting out another roar of frustration, Murray punched the brick wall one final time, causing the brickwork to fall to pieces.

Taking a moment to ensure the wall he had been punching wasn't going to collapse, following the sudden damage it had withstood, Murray stormed out onto the street, ignoring any lingering eyes or raised brows as he made his way back to the hospital.

The hippo's friend was going to give some answers, whether he wanted to or not, and explain exactly _**why**_ Neyla was still breathing after everything she had done.

Stomping past a hotdog stand without even glancing at it, which was very uncharacteristic of him, Murray found himself back at the entrance to the hospital in a matter of minutes.

'Time for some answers, buddy,' he growled, storming inside and up to the receptionist.

* * *

Neyla p.o.v

She had been hiding under the dumpster for at least twenty minutes before even considering moving. That hippo knew she was still alive, and now he was going to come after her and make her pay for everything her other side did.

How was she meant to explain her predicament to anyone who didn't know? Pleading mind control was, no doubt, similar to pleading insanity, not everyone was going to believe her and, chances are, the jury wouldn't buy it, considering she even went to court.

Once she was certain the hippo wasn't nearby, Neyla rolled out from under the dumpster and got up to dust herself off, 'Sly keeps some seriously terrifying company,' she muttered as she adjusted her hijab, 'though, I guess the team wouldn't be nearly as effective if he wasn't terrifying.'

Neyla made her way out of the alley and onto the street, looking around for any sort of guidance of where the hell she was meant to go next.

Sly was no doubt with his friend at the hospital, anyone that she used to meet with was only there because she had been hypnotised, and if she showed her face in public Carmelita would have her thrown in prison faster than the eye could see.

Neyla had no allies anymore. Sly was the only one who could help her, and he was surrounded by people who wanted her dead.

She only had one option: leave the city and start over. All she would have to do was say goodbye to Sly and then move to Australia.

Looking up and down the street one last time, Neyla determined her best way to get to the hospital without drawing attention, and, more importantly, not run into Sly's homicidal hippo friend, before heading back down the alley from which she had just emerged.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Sly turned away from Bentley to be met with a very unfriendly sight, 'You lying little shit!' Murray roared, throwing a punch at Sly's head, who quickly ducked out of the way, 'you knew Neyla was alive, and you lied to us!'

'You're damn right I did,' the raccoon spat in response, rolling away from the hippo, 'why the hell _**would**_ I tell you?'

'Because we're your friends,' Murray yelled, running at the raccoon, 'and you're letting your feelings for Neyla get in the way!'

'Murray, enough,' Bentley yelled from his bed, 'this isn't helping!'

Murray forced himself to stop going after Sly, 'My feelings for Neyla aside Murray,' Sly breathed from the other end of the room, 'she didn't do anything on the blimp, it was all-'

'All what?' Murray yelled, fire in his eyes, 'All Arpeggio's fault? Was she under hypnosis? Wake up Sly, she's _**playing you**_! She knows how you feel about her and she's manipulating you to get what she wants!'

Sly didn't respond, he simply watched as Murray turned on his heel and started out the door. 'Where are you going?' Bentley demanded, putting his glasses back on, as he'd had them on his bedside table.

'I'm going out,' the hippo spat, glancing at Sly venomously, 'if I find Neyla, don't even think about interfering. I'm going to make her pay.' Without another word, Murray walked out the door, leaving Sly alone with his crippled friend.

The raccoon sighed, 'She isn't lying Bentley,' Sly muttered, walking back over to his friend and sitting beside him, 'I'd know if she was.'

Bentley looked up at Sly and grasped his hand, 'Sly,' he sighed, looking away, 'I can understand your willingness to defend her. She got close to you, closer than Carmelita ever did. But how can you be sure she isn't manipulating you?'

Sly groaned, slipping through Bentley's grip, 'I don't know,' he admitted, 'it's just that… everything we've done together… it was too real to be a lie. Do you understand?'

Bentley smiled lightly, 'I'm not gonna act like I understand love Sly,' he chuckled, 'but I think I understand what you're getting at. Your relationship with Neyla feels so strong that you simply have to believe that she truly loves you… It's naïve, but adorable.'

'Thanks,' the raccoon sighed, standing up and walking over to the window.

'Sly, just remember,' the turtle called out, 'I can find a way to prove that Neyla was under hypnosis if you bring her to me… after I'm out of hospital, of course.'

Sly turned back to him, 'You could do that?'

'Sly, you remember who I am right?' Bentley asked in a sarcastic tone, 'of course I could do that.'

The raccoon started grinning at the idea, walking back over to his friend and hugging him, 'Thanks man,' he whispered, letting the turtle go before something was broken.

Bentley suddenly turned serious, 'But if you're going to get her,' he explained, 'I'd hurry. Murray didn't look like he was going to let her live.'

Sly cursed and instantly bolted out the door, ducking and weaving past nurses and doctors before barrelling out the door and into the alleyway, grabbing his equipment and jumping onto the rooftop and into the early morning light.

* * *

Murray p.o.v

Murray walked through the morning market, keeping his eyes open for any sign of the tigress. He knew for a fact that if she hadn't already left the city, Neyla would be looking for Sly. So all the hippo had to do was intercept her before she found his friend.

Scanning the crowd, Murray carefully examined every single head that he could see, trying to make out the very obvious sight of a hijab wearing Bengal tigress. However, not being known for his patience, Murray nearly throw up his hands in defeat and stormed back to the hospital when he saw it.

The tigress was walking through the market place, eyeing the stalls as if trying to figure out what shirt was the best design to help her get out of the city.

Without wasting a moment, Murray immediately started moving towards Neyla, but his hulking figure particularly stood out amongst the crowd and the tigress instantly saw him, quickly turning and walking in the opposite direction.

Murray pushed his way through the crowd and, the second he had broken free of the cluster of people, broke into a run as he charged after the tigress, who had started bolting towards one of the nearby alleyways.

Dedicating all of his energy to pursuing the tigress, Murray charged into the alley and found Neyla trying to lift the cover off a manhole, only to look up and see him approaching. Fear laced Neyla's eyes as she dropped the manhole cover and ran, only for Murray to pick up a nearby trash can and throw it at her, clipping her head and knocking her to the ground.

Murray walked up to Neyla and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off the ground as she struggled to breath and break free of his grip.

'Please…' she rasped, trying to break out of his vice-like grip, 'don't…'

Murray narrowed his eyes, 'You're begging for mercy?' he growled, 'after what you did to Bentley? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!' Before he could do anything, Murray saw something flying towards him, but wasn't able to react nearly fast enough as a cane impacted with his head, forcing him to let go of Neyla, who dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

'LEAVE HER ALONE MURRAY!' came the familiar sound of Sly as he dropped from one of the rooftops and landed between the hippo and tigress.

Murray growled, 'I don't want to hurt you Sly,' he admitted, 'but she has to pay, now move!'

'I'm not going to let you hurt her Murray,' the raccoon growled, picking up his cane and assuming a combat stance. 'Now let her go, or I'll make you let her go.'

Murray clenched his fists, 'Just because I don't want to fight you Sly, doesn't mean that I won't,' he spat, 'move now, or wake up next to Bentley in hospital!' Murray advanced on the tigress, who instantly recoiled.

Sly was the first to respond to Murray's aggression, as he charged his friend. 'Neyla, _**run**_!' he yelled, bringing his cane into contact with Murray's face as he jumped at the hippo.

Murray instantly began struggling, grabbing Sly by the collar and throwing him aside as he ran at Neyla, who was now trying to escape the fight. Before Murray could really get close to her, however, he felt a sharp pain on one of his legs as Sly hit him with his cane, first on the left leg, then his right shoulder, and finally the back of his head.

Murray growled, swinging his elbow back towards where he assumed Sly was, only for the raccoon to duck out of the way and hit the hippo several more times with his cane, causing Murray to recoil from the pain.

Already getting fed up, Murray picked up a metal pipe and swung at Sly, hoping to knock him out in one go, only for the pipe to be parried by Cooper's cane.

Murray was able to get a powerful hit Sly in the chest, causing him to keel over and drop his cane in agony, allowing the hippo to continue pursuing Neyla, who he could see at the very end of the alley.

Breaking into a run, Murray charged after Neyla, only for Sly to jump onto his back and start pummelling away at his back and head, hoping to make him stop moving. However, the hippo simply swung his fist up to be met with Sly's chest before lifting him off his back and over his head, before throwing him into a wall, knocking him out instantly.

The hippo continued down the alley, now in very obvious pain as he limped and held his back as he walked.

Reaching the mouth of the alley, Murray was more than a little frustrated to see that Neyla had escaped, before turning and punching a nearby signpost, putting his fist through the metal and sending the pole toppling to the cobbles at his feet.

* * *

Sly p.o.v

Sly woke to be met with Murray, arms crossed, standing over him with an unimpressed look in his eye. The raccoon groaned as he rolled off his side and onto his back.

'How could you?' Murray asked in disbelief as the raccoon lifted himself onto his knees, 'I thought we were your friends.'

'You are!' Sly insisted, looking up at Murray, 'but you were going to kill her… and I couldn't allow that.'

Murray shook his head in disappointment, 'You're pathetic Sly,' he sighed, helping the raccoon to his feet, 'but that's why I've stuck around all these years… because you need me.'

Sly dusted himself off before keeling over in pain, 'I'd take it easy bud,' Murray hurriedly explained, putting his friend's arm over his shoulder, 'I hit you pretty hard there.'

'Yeah,' Sly chuckled through the pain, 'now I know how all those guys you've fought felt.'

Murray smiled as he helped the raccoon out of the alley and onto the street, 'Better get your casual clothes on pal,' he explained, 'I'm gonna need to make sure you're okay, and the guys at the hospital are more than a little good.'

Alright then,' Cooper sighed as he limped down the road, supported by Murray.

As they continued down the road, Sly looked to one of the rooftops and was able to just make out a figure looking down at them. Knowing Neyla was surprisingly good at lip reading, Sly looked at her and mouthed, 'Get out of the city, you aren't safe here.' As soon as he said those words, Sly saw Neyla turn and run across the rooftops and out of sight, leaving Sly and Murray to hobble back to the hospital.

 **Rate and Review, please! This was a bit of a weird chapter and I'm hoping you liked it! Sorry again for being away so long, but I can't stress enough that this isn't as important as school work.**


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